Even before it is a place and a country, America is an idea and an ideal. And this is what is meant by "Open Source America." America lives unbound by place or even success in hearts and minds (and dreams) worldwide and through history, and even before it existed. It is mankind's democracy of value; mankind's diversity unlocked and perfected by liberty. America belongs to everyone but belongs to no one. It is "open source." e pluribus unum

January 22, 2014

‘When the black smoke streams in faster than you can fan it away, and you feel you have nowhere to go, be glad that you are mistaken.’

You ever feel personally as though "your back is up against it?"

Not just that but you are contemplating climbing up the wall, as if that made sense.

I mean, ten seconds to go in the last of the game, fourth down, and your team has the ball and you are down on points and you have about 95 yards to go to just to tie. Oh yeah and your players are tired, and injured. There is sleet pushing against you. And you feel a pain in the core of your ankle joint as you lean in to huddle.

There are and will be in life simply times that more is requested of you than you think you have to give.

Hopelessness becomes a temptation. And doubt. Depression. Sadness. Anger. All amounting to stoppage.

Remember that this is right when growth is happening. No, it isn’t fun. No, it isn’t pleasant. Necessary? Yes. Productive? With any “luck” (and the right intention). You forget the game is a beautiful one.

Remember as well that as bad as you think you have it, other people have it worse. And other people have had it worse. And no not just a little bit worse, but worse in the sense of that wall climbed up…scaling an edifice up or down…others have tried that because it was their only alternative; irrational though it might have been. That feeling you felt was their reality. And then they fell and are now a memory.

What if you were America?

Maybe America is in the clutch. Gut check time. But she too has seen worse than this.

She has seen bombing and world wars, massive economic meltdown, hatred institutionalized, indifference confirmed in law, kidnappings and natural disasters and evil or stupid leaders, corruption, fraud. Bums. And now, more bums; doubt, and disbelief.

And. Survived. But. Also. Better.

Never forget as well that even if America is in the clutch, YOU America are at the clutch.

You shift the gears to surmount the hill or coast over bumpy road. You put it into reverse or neutral, to avoid a hazard or to preserve the engine. You decide the direction of what remains the greatest and freest country in the history of the world…great because its people are free; free because it’s people seek greatness. And not just the little you but the all of you…the “you” that becomes “we”…strong, united, e pluribus unum.

Don’t you forget it.

“I believe in America.”

How can this be said about any other country? [I believe in ‘Belgium’ or ‘Kenya’ or ‘Guinea’ or ‘Korea’?] It is completely inconsonant.

And yet not in or with America. I believe in America.

This esoteric realm of belief; which exists beyond even what our five senses can see. And relying just upon our five senses, which so many take for the absolute parameters of reality, actually in fact bedims our sure view of reality.

Believe in America. And don’t stop believing. It is real.

It is not just nation; not just a geography. Less a place than a place of being; more concept than country. Permanent present program.

That is “Open Source America”; that the technology, the code, of this great something exists throughout and within mainframes and networks even if terminals melt down, even if their operators log off, or install malware, or check out. America is purely open source, enjoyed and modified improved and codified licensed and even sanctified by its users – you the programmers of the greatest freedomware ever conceived (then and now) in an otherwise clouded world – here and the world over.

Those who wish to reduce America to another force - a cudgel or a phantom - break themselves. Or, in vainly wishing to harness as stead the force of something so free; a ‘fools errand.’ Or; in attempting to extract and literalize and temporalize the immanent permanent; an evident farce going from reality to vanity in three acts.

You see America is not in the body, but in the D.N.A. – the source-code. It is not the meat but what animates it. And the source-code is bedrock, unstoppable, because it was founded on parallel with the human heart and its encoded rhythm of freedom and justice. And even if it becomes sick with some malady or another, it’s DNA is sound.

Seven score and ten years ago today (150years), President Abraham Lincoln gave maybe his most famous, and shortest, speech: The Gettysburg Address.

At their reburial it commemorated the meaning of the war dead from the Civil War of America.

One writer called it "So short, it is only a couple Tweets." So was wondering what the Gettysburg Address would it look like as a Tweet...

The Gettysburg Address

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this."

"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

November 6, 2013

In Washington today it is like a game of: red light, yellow light, green light.

Only it isn't a game. It's a tale of fiscal inebriation.

One group wants a (R)ed Light on spending, but only for present and future spending -- it will not cut the largesse of commandeered commitments pre-committed into the future; perhaps knowing that they can skate today even if it can only end in tears.

Another group wants a Yellow Light on spen(D)ing: let us bring "responsible reform" to our present system of "entitlements" by slowing the growth in commandeered commitments of your money into the future.

Still a third group seeks the Green L(I)ght of continued spending across the board, even putting the pedal to the medal.

When the guy at the end of the bar has had too many, a smart barman cuts him off. No present or future spending. But a wise barman not only cuts him off, but gives him a cup of coffee and something to eat and time to sober up and maybe a trip home...time and opportunity to let the worm leave his system.

Especially when the jerk is crowding the otherwise people of temperance in the pub seeking to go about their own business.

And if the guy shakes a little bit, or angrily demands that he be re-served, so be it. The wise barman won't budge.

Time has come to restaff, to take away the keys, and cut off the drunk.

November 2, 2013

"I feel that you [America] are justified in looking into the future with true assurance, because you have a mode of living in which we find the joy of life and the joy of work harmoniously combined. Added to this is the spirit of ambition which pervades your very being, and seems to make the day's work like a happy child at play. "

October 31, 2013

October 30, 2013

Just how did some of us slip away into the notion that as the government goes so goes the whole nation?

Don’t We The People precede, define, and operate government in the first place? And isn’t there more to America even than a government or even who runs it?

Isn't it more true to say that as the foundation goes, so goes the nation?

This is especially so in great America, whose foundation is freedom. And freedom is today by principles of supply-and-demand -- a growth industry. America remains great and free because it and its people are still great and free; and ever will be.

Surely there is a sickening abundance of dysfunction, amateuristry, and confused action present in government today, particularly in the federal half of our government. Those who get it but can't lead are being led by those who don't get it and can only mislead. And the balance of the tripartite branches a separation of co-equal powers seems upset. This clumsy attempt at renovation of our systems; many in contrast with the dictates of the Constitution, and sheer good sense -- and reality – yet makes a many shake their head and conclude that "America" is "being lost."

Not so!

Because. You. Did. Not. Build. That.

Yes the mistakes by those we put in charge for now will impact some, and negatively. Yes a certain pettiness of public controls will touch upon the affairs of some free men. Yes those who know little of economy (or of its parts) occludedly trying to "fix" an economy and “make jobs” (like a fish fixes its tropical tank, or a monkey makes bananas) will make life costlier and more involved from an operational perspective - a human penance made of electoral haste.

But what even has this to say about the enduring trueness and the ongoing reality of America? America never was its government. And it is not today.

For what does a drunken pilot say of the Boeing plane he pilots...?...or the computer operator of the network or the mainframe...?...or the wagon wheel of the greatness and vastness of the frontier ahead...?

America > Government.

America is not governance, nor geography, or even the people in it today, but rather America is mankind’s idea and ideal. America exists, in history it persists, of value it insists. At the end of the day one is either building or destroying. And mankind’s building, the brand of America, always has victory over destruction.

Because freedom is ever free and ever new, invention ever inventive, and Man is ever destined to constructively go beyond his parameters. And no one can ever make these things not so in a nation and place conceived in Liberty.

A free mankind. The steel understructure to our ever Open Source America; an idea and ideal, a nimble global and temporal place of achievement, land of free people (and not of offices). Freedom itself even is not the servant of America. America is the servant of freedom. Freedom = America.

…Beyond outside after and above unjust constraint, beyond some malevolent complaint, or any ill-aimed restraint. At the end of the day the unchanging infrastructure of an Open Source America, of mankind free, remains, and long may she wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

October 3, 2013

The following infographic by Amadeus depicts the relative change in airline travel worldwide by country and region. It notes the grown in certain Asian and South American travel worldwide in terms of annual flights in-and-out, and specifically in regions of popular BRIC countries [Brazil, Russia, India, and China].

But scratch the surface and see a little more. A lesson in map reading. To where are these people traveling to and from?

America.

According to the most recent report from the US Department of Transportation from March 2013, the "flag market share" of flights into/out-of/inside the United States was up 4.1% over the previous 12-months period, rising to 57.8% share of all flights worldwide.

September 27, 2013

Recently experimental psychologists at the University of Glasgow photographed women from 41 different nationalities and ethnicities for an experiment to generate computerized images of the "typical look" of a person from a particular country.

This 'composite portraiture' is a technique first used in the 1880s by a Sir Francis Galton. Galton was, by the way, a cousin to evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin.

At first it was a disappointment that, among the images produced, there was not one for the typical average "American" (even as there was one for "African American.")

Until I remembered....wait....these; all, as well as each, ARE the composite image of the "typical look" of an American. They are all and each the typical American.

September 17, 2013

On the date which historically was "Constitution Day;" a day on which America remembered the gift and its fidelity to the Constitution, President Harry S. Truman declared the same, from henceforward, in order to link the rights and responsibilities of citizenship with it, to be "Citizenship Day."

PROCLAMATION 2984

CITIZENSHIP DAY, 1952

WHEREAS by a joint resolution approved February 29, 1952 (Public law 261, 82d Congress), the Congress of the United States has designated the 17th day of September of each year as Citizenship Day in commemoration of the formation and signing on September 17, 1787, of the Constitution of the United States and in recognition of all who, by coming of age or by naturalization, have attained the full status of citizenship; and

WHEREAS it is most fitting that every citizen of the United States, whether native-born or foreign-born, should on September 17 of each year give special thought and consideration to his rights and responsibilities under our Constitution; and

WHEREAS the aforesaid resolution authorizes the President of the United States to issue annually a proclamation calling for the observance of Citizenship Day:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, HARRY S. TRUMAN, President of the United States of America, do hereby direct the appropriate officials of the Government to display the flag of the United States on all public buildings on Wednesday, September 17, 1952, and I urge the people of the nation to display the flag on that day at their homes and other suitable places.

I also urge Federal, State, and local officials, as well as patriotic, religious, civic, educational, and other interested organizations to arrange for appropriate ceremonies on Citizenship Day in which all our people may join to the end that both native-born and naturalized citizens may have a fuller understanding of their rights and privileges and of their obligations and responsibilities as citizens of the United States.

And I call upon all our citizens to renew and reaffirm on that day their faith in the principles and ideals embodied in the Constitution - the foundation of our strength and the symbol of freedom and justice for all.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

DONE at the City of Washington this 25th day of July in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-seventh. [SEAL]

September 12, 2013

"I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.”

"It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional,
whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and
poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal."

* * *

[1988 Photograph allegedly showing the former KGB spy disguised as a member of a
tourist party instructed to harangue President Ronald Reagan.]

1. Those who are still not working, but who have merely been seeking work in the past four weeks are considered to be "in the labor force," according to the BLS definition. So the true number of "not in the labor force" is far higher than 90.5 million.

2. But what sort of work do 16, 17 year old minors do? (These minors are considered a part of the overall "labor force" and perform almost 5 million jobs.) So the quality (and adult-life supportive vitality) of jobs "in the labor force" is likely assumed by most of us to be higher than in reality, as the stat would include, for instance, part-time work at a shoe store or temp agency.

3. Those who are self-employed, a substantial segment of American economic life, ARE considered "in the labor force" irrespective of business income -- even if their business(es) is struggling or even failing (they may have one client providing 20% of their needed monthly overhead, for instance). So the economic vitality of those who are "in the labor force" is likely assumed to be higher than actual.

4. According to the 2010 US Census, total population of those 16years or older America was 243.275 million. Roughly two years later this would approximate the working adults now 18 and over. Further the population 62 and older, those likely out or leaving the workforce today, was just under 50 million. [2010 Official Census records: http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdf]

So...

With a over-18 working population in America of less than 200 million, and with "in the labor force"
including those just looking for work, more than one-half of America is not working today and of those who are many are not earning adult or otherwise sufficient incomes.

August 30, 2013

EmailPrint PDF In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we heard a great deal about "why they hate us" and why America is so bad. In the meantime, we've endured lengthy lectures from multicultural activists about America's history of slavery. Leftists continue to fulminate about American foreign policy, which they blame for most of the evils in the world. Cultural pessimists, some of them conservative, deplore the materialism of American life and the excesses and degradation of American culture. Clearly, anti-Americanism doesn't just find support in cafes in Cairo, Tehran, and Paris; it is also a home-grown phenomenon. In the view of America's critics, both domestic and foreign, America can do no right.

This indictment has the effect of undermining the patriotism of Americans at a time when America's challenges in the world require the enduring patriotic attachment of its citizens. America's critics are aiming their assault on America's greatest weakness, which is not military vulnerability but a lack of moral self-confidence. Americans cannot effectively fight for their country without believing that their country is good and that they are fighting in a just cause. With Edmund Burke, Americans tend to believe that "to make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely."

Is America worthy of a reflective patriotism that doesn't mindlessly assert, "My country, right or wrong," but rather examines the criticisms of America and finds them wanting? As an immigrant who has chosen to become an American citizen, I believe that it is. Having studied the criticisms of America with care, my conclusion is that the critics have a narrow and distorted understanding of America. They exaggerate American faults, and they ignore what is good and even great about America.

Musings of a Foam Finger.An Essay of Absurdities Amounting to Meaning, Hopefully.

‘America, whither shall I go?’ For I no longer have home or patron or meaning…

I Foam Finger, artifact of sport history and American popular society, but still emblem of victory or merit, quality – no -- not quality but exceptionalism = the best. Number One.

Some preeningly craven “celebrity” used me, nay abused me and herself and all viewers in the process; and even more. Maybe you heard. In selecting I Foam Finger as a “simulated” “sex” “aid” she besmirched me, myself, Foam Finger; but did so much more bad in the process ad to the concept for which I stand: exceptionalism itself.

I, Number-oneage, take umbrage!

As I write this essay to you I notice that even in my Microsoft Word program the term “exceptionalism” immediately elicits the automated red-underline of the electronic wisdom of the “spell” “check.” [If you don’t believe even me, Foam Finger, just try it for yourself in Word.] So low has my raison d’etre fallen in the mind of man in popular thinking that in this the best country in the world, even here, and inside the most successful software in the world, that a spellcheckcommisariature should provide my extinction and in my place the following wisdom: “No spelling suggestions.”

Can’t I at least buy a vowel?

This, from Microsoft - the embodiment of exceptionalism in the field of software proliferation and success. Not in the (e)book?!

I had to re-think it myself, ‘Did I spell that right?’ ‘Is that really a word?’ Exterminated exceptionalism always results in the fruit of doubt. Doubt today.

Yes.

But what if Spellczecher is removing other unpopular thoughts if this one is gone? And what about the larger electronic “world.”

So then stirring up my courage I went over to “software” b-brand Google. Typing in “exceptionalism” into the search and there I was image #1 for “exceptionalism” – I Foam Finger. So then in dash to double gut check into “Images” “foam finger”…darn is “she” wasn’t there again abusing me!

For I Foam Finger this really stings. Because now when people think of me they will only think of “her;” or of my meaning of “that” she did. And maybe they will begin to think the same about real exceptionalism.

Polemical? Perhaps. But wouldn’t you be?!

Please help us Lord if gone are the days where I Foam Finger; longstanding legate of leadership of exceptionalism of which America is Exhibit 1 (if you will) in the world, is itself bemocked or edited out through spellczech or linked with so many embarrassing travesties.

God save the queen of human success – and me mom and her home in America -- exceptionalism!

Oh wait a minute, it can’t really go away. Even if few people know it, it is still there. Isn’t that “exceptional?” As for me who knows?

But now wait a minute, I'm talking about America, sweet America, You know, God done she'd his grace on thee, He crowned thy good, yes he did, in a brotherhood, From sea to shining sea.

You know, I wish I had somebody to help me sing this (America, America, God she'd his grace on thee) America, I love you America, you see, My God he done she'd his grace on thee, And you oughta love him for it, Cause he, he, he, he, crowned thy good, He told me he would, with brotherhood, (From sea to shining sea). Oh Lord, oh Lord, I thank you Lord (Shining sea)."

November 21, 2012

General Thanksgiving By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of AmericaA PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations(especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

Day of FAIL."Hysterical" imagery from assorted hysterical "anti-capitalism" "occupy" "activists" putting forward a "Day of Rage." Brought to you by the genius proprietor of zombietime.com.
[Warning: some obscene language on "articulate protest" posters.]

Facebook jokes."Facebook now has 500 million users. The previous record holder was heroin."